The disclosures herein relate generally to portable computers and more particularly to an external hinge for mounting an LCD panel cover to a base of a portable notebook computer.
The desire for large screen displays in portable computers is recognized in U.S. Pat. No. 5,245,559 which discloses a programmable portable electronic computer including a twelve key keyboard array capable of entering a full range of alphanumeric characters and computer commands and a large area electronic display screen. This affords room for graphical presentations with alphanumeric notation, and enough rows of printed text to afford word processing capabilities. Thus, a tape recorder within the housing may include software and is coupled for use in dictating, storage, word processing and computer interfacing use, all under control of the keyboard keys.
There have been various attempts to address limitations associated with hinged couplings used in portable computers. U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,142 discloses a portable computer having a hinge assembly which allows the cover and display screen to be tilted from the base of the portable computer and then swivelled about a vertical axis. One hinge is provided at the rear edge of the base of the portable computer about which the cover both tilts and swivels. The hinge assembly includes stops which limit the amount of tilt and swivel.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,548,478, a laptop style computing device includes a base portion, a display portion containing a display screen and a touch input panel, and a mechanism for selectively positioning the display portion in selective angular engagement with the base portion in a plurality of angular upright positions for use in the laptop mode, as well as the display up position for slate style use and the display down position for closing the device.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,708,561, a portable computer includes a base and a cover incorporating a display screen pivotably mounted to the base between a closed position overlying the base and an open position raised over the base. A swivel arrangement is located in the cover enabling at least a portion of the cover and the display screen to be rotatable about an axis which is perpendicular to the cover in the open position, and between a landscape orientation in which the display screen has a longer dimension extending in a substantially horizontal direction, and a portrait orientation in which the display screen has a shorter dimension extending in a substantially horizontal direction. The cover is also mounted for sliding movement. Front speaker ports are opened and closed when the cover moves. A recessed corner segment is provided on the cover for easier manipulation of the cover.
The portable computer industry is providing notebook computers with larger and larger LCD displays to respond to user demand. New larger size LCD displays are being produced faster than the notebook chassis supply can respond. Typically an LCD panel is mounted in the cover of a notebook computer. The cover is mounted on a hinge or hinges for pivotable movement relative to the computer base. The hinge or clutch mechanism is mounted in the LCD panel cover directly below the LCD panel and within the same plane as the panel.
As a result, the placing of the hinges within the LCD panel cover restricts the amount of space available for the LCD panel within the dimensions of the cover. Therefore, there is no space available in the LCD panel cover for expansion to accommodate a larger size LCD panel.
Another problem is that only one size LCD panel cover can typically be mounted to a base of a particular size. Thus, typically a unique base must be manufactured to accommodate each new LCD panel cover of increasing size. It would be desirable to provide a portable computer having a base to which LCD panel covers having a variety of sizes could be mounted, including LCD panel covers having larger footprints than that of the base. It would also be desirable to provide a hinge that would allow the LCD panel cover mounted on a particular base to be easily interchanged.
Therefore, what is needed is a hinge which allows display panels of various sizes to be mounted to a portable computer base of a particular size and easily interchanged.